Carroll Davidson Wright (July 25, 1840 – February 20, 1909) was an American statistician. Wright is best known for his title as the first U.S. Commissioner of Labor, serving in that capacity from 1885 to 1905.

Biography

Wright was born at Dunbarton, New Hampshire. He attended schools in Washington, New Hampshire, from elementary through the Tubbs Union Academy. He began to study law in 1860, first in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

and then in nearby

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, but in 1862 enlisted as a private in the 14th New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment to fight the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. He became colonel in 1864, and served as assistant-adjutant general of a brigade in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

campaign under General Philip Sheridan. After the war, he was admitted to the New Hampshire bar, and in 1867 became a member of the

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and United States' bars. From 1872 to 1873 he served in the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

, where he secured the passage of a bill to provide for the establishment of trains for workers to

from the suburban districts. From 1873 to 1878 he was chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. In 1880, he was appointed supervisor of the U. S. Census in Massachusetts, being also special agent of the census on the factory system. In 1885 he was commissioned by the governor to investigate the public records of the towns, parishes, counties, and courts of the state. He was the first U.S. Commissioner of Labor from 1885 to 1905, and in 1893 was placed in charge of the Eleventh Census. Wright was elected a member of the

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in 1893. In 1894 he was chairman of the commission which investigated the

Pullman Strike The Pullman Strike comprised two interrelated strikes in 1894 that shaped national labor policy in the United States during a period of deep economic depression. First came a strike by the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company' ...

of Chicago, and in 1902 was a member of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission. He was honorary professor of social economics in the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

from 1895 to 1904; in 1900, he became professor of statistics and social economics in Columbian University (now

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

). From 1900 to 1901, he was university lecturer on wage statistics at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, and in 1903 he was a member of the Douglas Commission to investigate and recommend a program of

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

for Massachusetts. In 1902, he was chosen president of Clark College (the undergraduate school at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research uni ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, where he was also professor of statistics and social economics from 1904 until his death. Dr. Wright was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1903, and in 1907 received the Cross of the Legion of Honor for his work in improving industrial conditions, a similar honor (Order of Saints Maurizio e Lazzaro) having been conferred upon him in 1906 by the Italian government. He was a member of the Institute of France and an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Science of Russia. In 1907, he was elected the second president of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. He received honorary degrees from Tufts (1883), Wesleyan (1894), Dartmouth (1897),

(1902), Tufts (1902), and Amherst (1905). He died on February 20, 1909.

Works

* ''Annual Reports of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor'' (15 vols., Boston, 1873–1888) * ''The Census of Massachusetts.'' In three volumes. Boston: Albert J. Wright, State Printer, 1877. Vol. 2: Manufactures and OccupationsVol. 3: Agricultural Products and Property
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''Statistics of Drunkenness and Liquor Selling Under Prohibitory and License Legislation.''
Boston: Rand, Aberg & Co., 1879. * ''The Statistics of Boston'' (1882) * ''The Relation of Political Economy to the Labor Question'' (1882) * ''The Factory System as an Element in Civilization'' (1882)
''Report on the Factory System of the United States.''
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1884. * ''Scientific Basis of Tariff Legislation'' (1884) * ''History of Wages and Prices in Massachusetts'', 1752–1883 (1885)
''Industrial Depressions: The First Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Labor.''
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1886. * ''Convict Labor'' (1886) * ''Strikes and Lockouts'' (1887) * ''The Industrial Evolution of the United States'' (1887) * ''The Present Actual Condition of the Workingman'' (1887) * ''Hand Labor in Prisons'' (1887) * ''Historical Sketch of the Knights of Labor'' (1887) * ''The Study of Statistics in Colleges'' (1887) * ''The Census of Massachusetts'' (4 vols., Boston, 1887/8) * ''Problems of the Census'' (1887) * ''The Growth and Purposes of Bureaus of Statistics of Labor'' (1888) * ''Outline of Practical Sociology'' (1899) * ''Some Ethical Phases of the Labor Question.'' Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1902.
''The Battles of Labor: Being the William Levi Bull Lectures for 1906.''
Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906. * ''The Apprenticeship System in its Relation to Industrial Education'' (1908)

References

* ''History of Washington, NH, 1768–1886'' * * * *

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

, New Series No. 86, June 1909, (Memorial by S.N.D. North) * Fourth Annual Report of the Statistics of Labor, Commonwealth of Mass.(1909) (Memorial by H.G. Wadlin) Attribution: *

External links

*
Carroll Wright page
including links to fully digitized copies of many of his books. From the ''Immigration to the United States, 1789–1930'' collection, Harvard University Library Open Collections Program

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Carroll D. American statisticians 1840 births 1909 deaths George Washington University faculty Harvard University staff Presidents of Clark University People of New Hampshire in the American Civil War Presidents of the American Statistical Association United States Census Bureau people People from Dunbarton, New Hampshire Arthur administration personnel Cleveland administration personnel Benjamin Harrison administration personnel McKinley administration personnel Theodore Roosevelt administration personnel Massachusetts state senators 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

References

External links